Rape accused Tripura official sent to police custody

Agartala, July 13 (IANS) A local court in Tripura on Wednesday sent to three days police custody a senior Tripura government official who was arrested a day ago in Assam’s Karimganj on rape charges, police said.

Tripura civil service officer Panna Ahmed, 44, who was arrested from a house in Karimganj on Tuesday, was presented in a local court. “The court sent him to three days police custody,” West Tripura district police chief Abhijit Saptarshi told IANS.

He said that senior police officials would interrogate him about the incident and the police are also looking for two locals who helped Ahmed to flee to Assam.

The Tripura government had suspended the civil service official, who was a sub-divisional magistrate in Sonamura sub-division of Sepahijala district.

“The state government had recently requested the Union Home Ministry for issuance of a red corner notice to track Ahmed,” Saptarshi said.

A Muslim woman, mother of two children, filed an FIR with the West Agartala police station here on June 27 that Ahmed called her to his private residence here and raped her.

Opposition Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party and Trinamool Congress have been holding protest demonstrations at Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar’s official residence and other places in the state almost daily since June 27.

Ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist’s State Secretary Bijan Dhar told the media that the officer should be punished if found guilty.

“After getting report from the District Magistrate and police, the Chief Minister ordered Ahmed’s suspension,” a top Tripura government official told IANS.